07 November 2008

The Big Read IV: The Lottery and Other Stories -- Shirley Jackson "My Life with R. H. Macy"

"My Life with R. H. Macy": And now I will never think of Macy's in quite the same way again.

• This is the first story that's been in the first person, yes?

• I actually don't have much to say about this one, other than that I loved it and want to quote the whole thing but obviously can't. And it's the first one that I thought was funny without being painful, and it's the first one in which I thought the main character actually made a move to break a cycle. Here's a snippet:

They gave us each a big book with R. H. Macy written on it, and inside this book were pads of little sheets saying (from left to right) : "Comp. keep for ref. cust. d.a. no. or c.t. no. salesbook no. salescheck no. clerk no. dept. date M." After M there was a long line for Mr. or Mrs. and the name, and then it began again with "No. item. class. at price. total." And down at the bottom was written ORIGINAL and then again, "Comp. keep for ref., and "Paste yellow gift stamp here." I read all this very carefully.